Radiohead's Guitarist Had to Invent His Own Instrument to Find the Perfect Sound

Radiohead has never been a band to analyze their own music. Luckily, fans and critics have been happy do that for them over the last two decades. Any devoted Radiohead listener could give you a college-level course on music theory, production, technology, and lyrical analysis digging into everything—from the band's many masterpieces, to songs they've never actually recorded (but tinkered with live over the years). There's an entire website devoted to keeping running tabs on the technology that Radiohead's members are currently using.

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Thankfully, there's enough Radiohead material to warrant such rampant dissection of the band's music. At every turn throughout their career, they've predicted or created the major pivots of rock music and beyond. Twenty years ago, OK Computer marched guitar music into the technological paranoia of the 21st Century; a few years later, the band fully embraced what would become an electronically dominant industry.

In 1999, Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien began experimenting with a Fernandes Sustainer. Here how it works: When O’Brien flips a switch it turns notes or chords played on the guitar into what’s called an infinite sustain, meaning they emit a consistent sound until they're stopped. It's that long drawn out alien sound you can hear in the background supporting the swells and structure of songs like "Kid A."

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So O'Brien fashioned his own instrument, having the Radiohead gear guy attach a sustainer to his guitar, a Clapton Stratocaster. The makeshift instrument achieved the sound he wanted, but it stopped functioning as a regular guitar, and for the entirety of the 2000s O'Brien has been swapping out instruments to play both synth and guitar.

That is until recently, when Fender designed a custom EOB Sustainer Stratocaster for O'Brien that features an infinite sustain controlled by an on/off switch, an intensity knob, and a three-position switch. It's the first signature Radiohead instrument designed by a band member. And O'Brien has road-tested it on The Moon Shaped Pool tour, using it to play "Paranoid Android," "Lucky," "The National Anthem," "Kid A," "Idioteque," "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," "Ful Stop," "15 Step," and the entirety of the new album (which he recorded with the guitar).

O'Brien spoke with Esquire.com about the key to Radiohead's sound, the future of guitar music, his upcoming solo album, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and more.

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O'Brien's been experimenting with the sustainer for decades.

When we made the album Kid A, we wanted to throw away our conventional tools. And there was more of a reach for things like synths. I’ve always loved the guitar and I’ve always loved the scope that guitars can do. People like Michael Brook invented the Infinite Guitar, and he got the Edge to play that. It’s an opportunity for me to look elsewhere. I was interested in this sustaining guitar—this idea that you could turn a guitar into more of a synth and you could use that to go through some pedals, and looping pedals had just come out.

I asked Peter Frank, who looked after the Radiohead gear, if he could get this Fernandes Sustainer and put it in my Clapton Strat that I had at the time. It was really great and particularly with the looping pedal was able to achieve more sounds and textures I never thought were possible. The only problem with that was the clean sound. In rearranging the pickups and gouging out and the work of putting in the sustaining unit, it ceased to function as a normal guitar very well. It didn’t sound great. My thing with Fender was at the basic level it has to be a very great Strat with a great neck and with the flick of a switch it turns into a sustainer. And that’s what we did.

Fender

How the sound has anchored Radiohead's most iconic songs and A Moon Shaped Pool.

I think it depends because it’s got many uses. You could use it as string pads, and you can layer it up. Or you can use it very aggressively and you could have a driving fuzz pedal. With Radiohead, it’s always about the song—it’s never about the tools you have. It’s always doing service to the song. I don’t try to analyze it too much. I don’t think we try to analyze our music too much. We do it and it comes out of us. A lot of times a sound is specific to a period of time, but with the sustainer Strat I started using it around '99 and now I use it more than ever. I’m probably using that guitar half the set now. I used to literally have to change guitars every song.

The versatility of the EOB Sustainer Stratocaster allows O'Brien to be more present during shows.

On a very basic level as a guitar it’s able to hit different tones with the JB Jr. and the pickups I’m able to use that for most of my guitar parts unless I need a 335 or a semi-acoustic or a Rickenbacker that kind of defines the early radiohead stuff in my parts. I can sort of do it all really. If I have to I can do the whole gig with one guitar—maybe two—that and a Rickenbacker. It’s great that you can go with a flick of a switch you can go from this great Strat to something more experimental. I can be a lot more in the moment. If you’re changing guitars every song your hands are adjusting. It’s a constant thing. It allows me to play in a different way.

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This Stratocaster represents where guitar music and experimentation in the industry is going.

We all play differently, us guitarists; we all have things we do and don’t do. It could be the first proper guitar that a teenager might go to or a student in their early 20s could go to. They could do something totally unique and make it their own. What Jimi Hendrix did with a tremolo arm on a Strat, I hope some kid’s going to come along and play it and make it their own. There’s enough there that you can make your own mark on it. I gave one to a friend and he sent me a video back of his daughter playing with it and she’s 8 years old and she has this amazing sound coming out of it. You can pick that up having never played the guitar and within a couple of minutes you could make a unique beautiful sound. There’s a lot of potential there.

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O'Brien has a stunning group of collaborators at work on his solo project.

I’ve started working on my own solo project. I go back into the studio next week. We’ve only done three or four weeks and I’m very excited about it. I’m working with the producer Flood, Catherine Marks. I’ve just had an amazing three week recording period with Omar Hakim and Nathan East and Dave Okumu. We’ve tracked some stuff and we have some backing tracks and I’m going back into the studio with Flood and Catherine to finish those tracks up and will start some new stuff in the new year. Yes there are some tour dates being looked at for Radiohead next year. So I’m very busy at the moment, I’ve got my head in this record.

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The album should be out late 2018 or early 2019.

Because the Radiohead touring has been going on longer than I expected, I wasn’t able to start the record October of this year. So the idea is to have it finished by this summer to have it all mixed and mastered. Then we have to find a label for it. So we’re looking at the back end of next year or early 2019.

His solo music is inspired by Carnival in Brazil.

It started when we were living in Brazil. It’s not overtly Brazilian but there are definite themes. Without getting into it too much, going to Carnival in Rio was very inspiring. Rhythm and groove were a big part of it. I’m really enjoying it. It feels really right at the moment.

His solo album will definitely use his signature Stratocaster.

We had two of them going. Dave Okumu is my lead guitarists and I didn’t expect him to play it and I gave him one at the beginning of the session and he played it all the way through the session. So it’s all over it so far. And the next five weeks, I’ve got a lot of guitar work to do and I think it’ll be my main axe.

Like most British bands, Radiohead isn't too enthusiastic about being nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As a British band, it’s one of those things that it’s very lovely to be nominated, but we don’t quite culturally understand it. It’s a very American thing. Us Brits are very bad at celebrating ourselves. One of the things I’ve always loved about coming over to America is American bands you can always have a really good chat with and you could talk. With British bands, there was a lot of hostility. It’s in our DNA to be a little ambivalent with award ceremonies. We haven’t had great experiences. I would never want to disrespect anything because obviously some amazing artists have been nominated. But if I’m honest I don’t understand it. It’s just kind of a British person going, "Okay, thanks, what does this mean?" It’s a little bit thin on black artists and hip-hop artists. I’m just speaking as a fan of American music, I would have thought that Dr. Dre should have been in there two years ago. His name should be first on the list way ahead of Radiohead.

I’m not up to date on the Sam Smith catalog. But who knows. I think everybody is influenced by the music before them. And Radiohead is no exception. Sometimes the inspiration can be overt. And if they are overt, you need to work at making them a little bit more covert before making them a bit your own. I would never castigate someone for taking inspiration from another piece of music. I think if it’s very direct then you have an obligation to say something, a bit like sampling. Everybody’s done it.

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